Quanta Blogs

Often in or outside of work you ask people to help you to do something or go somewhere and often you hear back that they are 'busy'.  We understand this and sometimes may even feel a little sympathetic. 

We are conditioned by the media and modern life to be busy, we all now lead increasingly busier lives in our on-demand 24/7 culture, in fact I cannot remember at work the last time I met someone who wasn’t busy!

But is it true that people can be too busy to do things? And if not, why do they say it? 

It's a sad fact that over recent years, cyber threats are becoming increasingly common. 73% of large organisations have suffered financial losses from computer viruses or malicious software within the past year. This is increasing year on year with the rate up from 59% the year before. Technology is not the answer: human error is a factor in more than 95% of security breaches.

I don’t know about you, but I spend part of my spare time outside of work reading books about management, leadership and communication skills. I ought to point out that this is due to the nature of the courses I teach – I specialise in project management and soft skills courses, and so it's necessary that I keep up with the many varying observations people have on these topics, with the beneficial side-effect of making me a better-informed and more interesting person (cough).

Agile is the latest in a series of hot buzzwords that sweep through our management lives – but what does it mean? Is Agile a silver bullet that will fix all project problems? Is Agile a tool to replace traditional techniques such as PRINCE2® because the traditional techniques are somehow “broken”?

The answer of course is neither of the above. And since Agile methodologies have been around since the 1970s, why has there been such intense renewed interest in Agile in these last few years?

In recent years, the 'IT help desk' has undergone a shift in meaning thanks to its new name, the 'IT service desk'. It was deemed that if it's known as a 'help desk' then staff would only call it when they needed help or when something was wrong.  A service desk can in fact deal with anything from the need to install Adobe Reader, setting up a new user, to dealing with an exploded computer, all the way through to how to update a formula on Excel.

We currently offer three basic approaches to Agile working: Scrum, DSDM and PRINCE2 Agile® – what’s the difference?

Despite Agile methodologies proving to be effective in organisations around the world, there are still companies who are nervous of adopting an Agile approach. Often, senior management perceive there to be a lack of control in Agile methodologies. Once you know Agile, you’ll understand that this is incorrect – Agile methods should give you far more control than using a non-Agile approach.

What's clear in ITIL® is that value is not always related to money - it's not always about providing the cheapest service.

When compiling a new IT service, always ask yourself 'What are we trying to achieve?' Think about the outcome you're trying to get to rather than the means by which it should be done.  A great example is 'we need a website so that we can sell online' is the wrong way to think about it. This declaration is focusing on the means and not the outcome.

For anyone already using Windows 7 or 8, the eagerly-anticipated Windows 10 operating system will be free to download from 29th July. Why not get yourself up to scratch with this latest update from Microsoft?

Windows 10 course at Quanta

We are proud to announce that from the end of September, we will be running PRINCE2 Agile courses. Due to popular demand, AXELOS has put together a syllabus which includes all the responsiveness and flexibility of Agile combined with the structure and control of PRINCE2.

Back in January, we announced that the time to wait for ITIL® exam results is now four working days or fewer. We're adding many more exams to this list which means that if you're in search of a certification, you'll get your result within a week of sitting the exam.

There is no arguing that ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) and CMI (Chartered Management Institute) courses are a good thing.  Over 750,000 managers have taken an ILM qualification in the past 10 years and employers say 93% of managers perform better at work after an ILM qualification. Likewise 78% of employers agree that CMI qualifications provide quality assurance for customers and that the benefits outweigh the time, money and effort invested in obtaining them. I’d also like to point out though that 73.6% of statistics are made up on the spot – as is that figure probably!

DSDM (AgilePM) is that little-known British-born sibling of Agile, making up just 1% of worldwide Agile use, don't discount it just yet, it has many aspects to shout about. If your team is looking to move from a traditional project management style to Agile, AgilePM might just be the answer.

Once you've completed ITIL® Foundation Certificate and gained two points, no doubt you'll be looking towards the next level of intermediate modules.

In terms of training, with 20 years under my belt, I'm a veteran. Over the years, I've probably made all the mistakes that training novices are likely to make. That doesn't mean that I know all there is to know about training, a day in which nothing new is learned is a day wasted! 

Regardless do you actually listen?  If you do, are you actually being told the truth by your employees?  Or if they said what they really think would it be career suicide in just 3 short seconds?